>> interested in american history tv? visit our website, c-span.org/history. tours,ectures, museum archival films, and more. american history tv, at c-span.org/history. >> next, david valdes talks about his photographs of george h.w. bush, which he took as the vice presidents personal houserapher and as white office director from 1989-1993. theill see his behind scenes photos of the bush administration the briscoe center for american history at the university of texas recorded the interview and

archived his photos. this is just over 70 minutes. all of the presidential photographers come to that job in different ways. beenof them come in having press photographers covering the campaign. it was 1983 and i was a government photographer. i had been a government photographer since day 1, 1967. i was drafted after graduating from high school into the air force. they told me i would be a photographer, and that is what i did. time, 1967 the vietnam war was going on.

want to go into the army, so i joined the air force. there was a big turnover of air force photo people. there were 500 guys, it was called flight. we all got some kind of aerial photography, motion picture photography, lab processing, and still photography. still photography was at the bottom of the list. i was assigned to the 836 combat support group in florida. newspaper buthe the strike command was there and that's kind of where the vietnam war was managed from. at 18 years old, i was photographing generals in meetings and ceremonies.

early point in my photography career, i was photographing high-level people. trained in the from ay, and coming military family. my father was career military. we talked about him growing up in south texas and working on the farm. that is another big part of my life, my texas history roots. so when i got out of the air 1971, my dad had moved up to washington dc. i followed by parents up there and got a job as a photographer at the united states department of agriculture.

that is where the farm security administration photos had been taken back in the depression time. aware ofng made more the world of photography. it was not really something i career,i would do as a a lifelong work. but it worked out well for me there. agriculture i went to the u.s. department of housing and now we in the early 1970's. in the 60's there were a lot of race riots. hud, which was started by president johnson, who almost

immediately after martin luther king was assassinated, there was a real effort ib department of housing and urban development to rebuild harlem and detroit. travel over the country photographing that. had a new program called new communities. maryland, reston, theinia, in dallas, redevelopment of baltimore's inner harbor. it were a lot of places like at that time, fema -- i was on the hud fema disaster team. i traveled all over the country doing that. there was a program for indian

housing. i went around photographing indian reservations there was an outreach in terms of a lot of photography. worked at hud as a photographer, i also photographed senate hearings and capitol hill. i was exposed to press photographers and all of that that was going on. while it was going on, i was pursuing my degree in journalism from the university of maryland i would be running around the country and at night i would be work to get a degree in journalism. then i was thinking i would really like to switch from doing

government documentary photography to news photography, the washington post, newsweek, they were all they are. and i pursued that. it never happened. i did wind up getting hired by ,he u.s. chamber of commerce across the street from the white house. at the time, they had the largest magazine in the country, now i amns magazine the chief photographer nick for nations business magazine, across from the white house. that vice i hear president bush's photographer was leaving and going to get a job with time magazine.

the photographer for the associated press told me about that. i explained where i had been as . government photographer eric draper had been with the onociated press, eric went to be george w's photographer. i was coming out of the government. most people that work at the white house get the job because they worked on the campaign. that, i hadnot do to figure out another way of getting in. i did some research and found that the vice president's photographer works for the vice

presidents press secretary. so i wrote a letter to shirley texan who was a the press secretary at the time, and introduced myself. she called me in for an interview and we hit it off. ton i was called in interview with the chief of staff, dan murphy. he really pushed my buttons. he was trying to make me upset. i think he was testing me. sir, no sir, i understand. background itary would -- and i was unfazed in him trying to push my buttons. when i laughed, i thought there was no way i would get the job.

and i was called back to interview with the vice president. , and it never really occurred to me -- you just think a job interview with the vice president of the united states. office, and hehe greets me and was warm and gracious. he showed me photos of his , you aredren and said going to spend a lot of time with me. we are going to be together in public, private, with my family. g, this guying, thinks i have the job. but nobody has made a job offer to me. .o i said, this is great do you know what the salary is? no idea,id, i have

let's called dan murphy and ask him. sayscks up the phone and whaty and, he's asking me the salary is. i heard screaming through the phone, what? he is asking you with the salary is? first-day, december 1980 three, the bushes had gone down to south florida, it is right after christmas. commercially. i was used to flying around the country by myself. that is what i did for work. miami -- butwne in miami, and an i willcomes up and says, carry your bags for you.

so he tells me the next morning to meet him at 5:00 a.m., that he would take me to the vice president. i said ok. he puts me on a helicopter and fries me out -- and flies me out to an island where the bushes are staying. and there is vice president bush who comes up to greet me in the helicopter. he says, come on in, i will introduce you to barbara bush. this was the first time that i and thebarbara bush second time i had met the vice president. i started learning how warm and gracious and embracing they were . thatrned through the years kind of the values that they challenged -- cherished where their faith, family, and

friends. i was pulled into that group of and many times over the , the president called me family. day, their son jeb bush, he and his wife had just was bringingnd jeb the new baby by to meet his grandfather. and we were in this hotel suite and people there then jeb came in, he left the baby with his grandfather and they walked back into the bedroom. i'm looking around and i'm saying, well there's nobody here to tell me, do i go back there stay out here, leave the room,

what do i do? and i kinerly and the relationship he had with president ford and the ford family. and i thought, you know if david , kinerly were here he would walk in the bedroom and take some pictures. and i kind of modeled my philosophy after watching how david worked. so i went into the bedroom and i took some pictures and then a few weeks later, i got a note from barbara bush and she said love the photos you took of gentleman pi and little jeff. jeb.nd little and she said, as long as you take pictures of my grandchildren you can go anywhere and do what ever you want to do.

so i was fortunate. yearse i spent six photographing the vice president. so, we had a chance to spend a lot of time together and with few people around. and, so we got very comfortable with each other. we would go places, and he'd hit me with his elbow sometimes than he'd say, can you believe this? guys from texas here doing this. and i was like, yeah you know, this is amazing, but you are president of the united states. but, you know, it was, it was a great thing and so when he became president everybody understood that david valdez the access and can go around. by that time after all those , years they were very comfortable

with me being around. and, i could read barbara bush, if i would go into a private setting, maybe she was knitting and i would walk would take her glasses off and i would take a couple pictures. and then i would see her go like this. and without ever having said anything i knew that that meant thank you david, you're done. and, so, i had a great relationship also with barbara bush. we had a lot of fun. and even after we left the white house and i went to head up photography for the walt disney company down in florida, she came to visit and speak at conventions in orlando several times.

one time she came to our house for lunch, you know, i had to call my wife up and say, guess whose coming over for lunch. but that was a lot of fun. and then, and then former president bush for quite a few years did a bone fishing tournament down in the island in florida keys. i was invited to go down there many times and photograph that event, go fishing and have some fun. of course when he started doing his sky diving, i went to that a couple of times and got pictures of him sky diving as the former president. but, you know, i think it was

that time working for the vice president that really solidified my relationship. i'll never forget on election night down over in houston when bill clinton was elected, and all the family was in the hotel suite the houstonian and he , realized he had lost the re-election. antique our everybody, it must have been 20 people, he said, everybody leave and go get in the motorcade. i need to call president clinton. and he said, everybody leave, but i stayed. and i photographed him calling president elect clinton and congratulating him

and conceding the race to him. time there was no doubt, you know, we were that close. when you're presidential photographer, you do not alter things. you photograph what's there. i one-time was in kennebunkport, maine, and it was the summer before president bush was going to run for president, it was 1987. he had already been vice president. and life magazine wanted to send a photographer they are and photograph him relaxing and on vacation. and he said, no i'm on vacation. and so, life they were taken

aback, they said, nobody says no to life. there was some back and forth. and they said ok, we'll let david valdez do some photos and bobby baker barrel was the photo editor at life. she didn't know me so she said ok, let's give this guy a shots. so i talked to barbara bush and said, you ought to just come over to our house at walker path at 6:00 and watch what happens. so the next morning i go over and their bedroom is literally just inside the door there. so i go in and there's george and barbara bush in bed, his hair's all messed up and they're in they're

-- and they are in their pajamas. i sat on the end of the bed, it was just good morning, and i reminded him what i was doing there. the grandchildren started coming in and this was a natural occurrence. so, so i stood back and i took some photos of the grandchildren in bed with george and barbara bush. and there were many times president bush's hair was kind of, light would and a lote wind a lot of times i would just go like that. i'll just do it like this and he would pull his hair back. but that morning, you know his hair was, you know he had just woken up, his hair was up. and i thought, you know if i say something about his hair, and i take this photo and his hair looks nice, no one will ever believe that this wasn't set up.

so i just took the photo and wound up running two full pages in life magazine. and over the next 20 years or so, it was in the best in life and classic moments in life. elected in one of best photo magazine for 25 years. i was fortunate as a photographer to get something like that. it is one of those things where there is a handful of full of people that get photos that live on like that. i remember one time a photographer by the name of eddy adams, pulitzer prize photographer.

many years later he set up the eddy adams workshop. i was invited as a speaker and i was there with eddy in his farmhouse in upstate new york. and there's joe rosenthal and carl might in's. joe took the photo of the marines raising the flag and carl's photograph, mcarthur walking on the beach. and eddy adams who took the photo in vietnam with the general getting shot in the head. and i'm thinking, wow look at -- wow, look at these guys. they're just incredible photographers and incredible photos they had done. and they were kind of lamenting their life and saying, you know we have all been in the business for 50 or 60 years and we're only known for one photograph. and i was like wow, that's really interesting. and for me, that one photograph

is george and barbara bush in bed with their grandchildren. so, it was a good run for me. been for more years, my wife was glad it wasn't. well you're at it seven days a week, 24 hours a day, and i spent all those years with the vice president and then the president. it is all consuming. to do the full 8 years. >> you were there when he was vice president. david: right. well, you know the fascinating

thing about that is, if you think back in history of the duringthat were going on that time, the 1980's and 1990's, i remember going to communist po poland and meeting with shipyard worker and vice president bush meeting and i remember him saying some day you'll be the president of the united states. and i was able to photograph them at their house. and if they are in warsaw. and therein warsaw. and a few years later we go back to a free poland and meet with the president there and president bush. and i was there again to and to see that transition in history and then , be there when the military aid comes up to the

president and says, mr. president, the soviet union has fallen. and there is that moment of, what? and, you know, it was the end of the soviet union, the cold war was over. the berlin wall came down. thingat was a whole other where president bush was criticized for not going to berlin and kind of standing on the wall and waving the flag and saying, you know, we won the cold war. and he refused to do that. his reasoning was that it is not about our victory or anything that we've done, it's time for -- it's time for the german

people, the people who are experiencing freedom for the first time in 70 plus years, it's time for them to celebrate and have their own victory. if he had gone, it was so soon after word that there were potentially rogue russian generals who had access to military asset and they could have said, oh, so you're celebrating? watch this. somebody -- and nuke somebody or do some horrible thing. i think it was great that president reagan stood at the berlin wall and said mr. gober

, tear down gorbachev this wall. on we didn't need to stand that while after it was torn down and gloat about it. if you think back to his childhood, to george walker bush's childhood, and his upbringing in playing sports and little league and when they would win a game, his mother would say, well george, did you congratulate the other team and say, you know, you played well? , she taught him to always reach out to the other guy and congratulate the other guy, win or lose. and i kind of felt, you know, it spoken but i felt it in my heart, i can hear him thinking about his mother and wonng, you know, yeah we

the cold war but we don't need to go and brag about it. we don't need to go stand on the wall and stick our thumb in somebody's eye. and so, i see that as kind of the character of the man and i think all the years that i spent with him, i really had a real opportunity to watch that part of his personality. , the guy that i was a man of great character and humility. i know that the experiences that he had prior to becoming president, when you think

about his career, when you go back to about youngest navy fighter pilot in world war down, lostbeen shot two members of his crew, rescued, coming back, moving out to midland, texas, starting in the oil business, being a congressman, about represented -- being representative for the united nations, about -- being liaison to the people's republic of china. whether you see that slice of history where he was president and the things that were accomplished and things that happened in the world, what

better person to have with all of that experience during that period of time. you almost wish you had someone like that here in 2013, who had that broad range of experience, who could pull someone, who could go out and pull world coalition together to remove iraq from kuwait. all the things he accomplished, lacking in some folks who become president because they don't have that broad range of experience. >> one thing i wanted to ask you about, with your approach to taking photos when you were behind the scenes with the family were behind the scenes during political discussions. david: well, you know i'd get 3 schedules, i would get a block schedule which was a

monthly schedule. but you goty loose a sense of big things going on in the month. then you get a weekly schedule and it was a little tighter. then you get a daily schedule. the daily schedule was admitted by me that and the job was the document what president did. so, would just rook at the -- so you would look at the schedule and say, ok, here's the thing going on this day and this time and you would go photograph them. after kuwait, the president made a speech to the world and gathered the world coalition and there were a couple of days there where there was nothing on the schedule. there was a lot of just sitting around waiting. day, patty, who managed the

oval office for the president, called me up and said, you need to go into the oval office. and i go in and i immediately realized the war was starting. i go in take a couple of photos, cheney who was secretary of defense, colin powell who was chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and jim baker. i take some photos and turn around to leave and they had locked me in. thats so highly classified once i was exposed to it, i could not leave. so, just on the other side of the oval office is a private

office and i went in there, and so for the next 10 or 12 hours, i was kind of back and forth. he would get on the phone and talk to people, world leaders, congressional leadership, and so even without the schedule you just of had to watch the players and what was going on. say, i walku would in i documented what was there, i'm good. sometimes, maybe you stay a little bit longer. one time when he was vice space shuttlethe challenger blew up, president reagan asked vice president bush to go down and meet with families. so i naturally went. him, iot there, i asked

know you're going to walk into this room and beat with these family members and they just lost their loved ones. he didn't respond but i could see he was pained by that. and so, i chose not to walk in that room. and out of respect for the people who were there. i could have walked in there just as easily but as a human being, there are times when as a photographer, andare put into situations just, there is no need. just back off. so, on that it was kind of unspoken but, i chose not to do that, but i did ask him about

it but he never really responded. but i could see, kind of in his heart, you know it was interesting. i was with him so much i could anticipate even body movements, because i observed him so much, and in such an intimate way. you could have a thousand people in the room and you could have hundreds of staff people traveling. i was the only one that my sole focus was to watch him. and, you know, the secret service rotated, the doctors rotated, the military rotatedted, everybody except the photographer. so you're always there and you could really learn, you know, what to

anticipate, which really helped with the photography. because you can say, i know that he is going to make that move. he is going to do whatever it is he is going to do and you could anticipate. and that really help because you knew that, like the second he did that, he was going to slump down in his chair or do something which kind be where hewouldn't wanted to be. then you could, you know, you knew you were done for that small period of time. it's funny, i was talking to somebody the other day. whene were talking about people speak up. and i said, well, you know i was always there but i

i never spoke up. it was not my responsibility to say anything. except for one time, we were in the oval office and iraq invaded kuwait and president bush was practicing his speech to the world, but really directing his remarks to sadaam hussein. and in the practice speech he says, this will not stand and iraq needs to be out of kuwait by noon on a certain date. i turned to the speech writer i i said is that new d.c. time or baghdad time? andthe guy went pale changed the speech. was one of those small little things that i did, which i never

, you know spoke up because you weren't there to talk. you just photographed what was in front of you. >> it's really amazing that they kept you in there with them -- in there with them to. i noticed some of the photos in remember, i cannot what point during the gulf crisis it was. bushes behind the desk and colin powell is on the phone as well and colin powell also pulled out a drawer. it was incredibly tense to be in there. david: well, it was. and it's funny, you know, what's going through your mind, no matter what's going on, as a photographer what's going through your mind is you're looking at the situation and you've been in that room, the

oval office thousands and thousands of times and you are saying i know it's there time of day. light is going to be coming through that window, their moving around, they're moving around, and so, you're always like thinking pretty intently about the photography and not so much about, you're kind of hearing because you're anticipating some action. but probably 90% of your brain thought is the photography. and you know, i need to get over here, just scoot over a little. and that is kind of what you are thinking. crazederms of getting about the situation, because it not so much. because it wasn't my responsibility.

we were in panama one time and it was after manuel noriega had been removed from power and we were -- theere and there was president was making a speech in a public plaza and the panamanian military surrounded the plaza with these big tractor trailer trucks to build a barrier to protect the environment. and there was a crowd outside of the truck and the crowd surged a and the panamanian folks shot off some teargas. the wind was blowing in our direction in the stage so the people inside the barrier away started moving away from the

tear gas towards the stage. the secret service grabbed the president and said, let's get out of here. as a photographer, visually it was really an interesting thing because the guys came out with their gas mask on. so i started taking photos of that, a little chaos. and a secret service agent grabbed me by the back of my belt and pulled me into the spare limousine and we sped off. so here we were in kind of a life-and-death situation, and my mind went to let's get photos. but i am glad to be able to get in the limo, because i was 32 brief that teargas. -- because i was starting to breathe that teargas.

and the limos have their own air supply. i was like, give me some of this fresh air. so you know, i didn't get too worked up. i think the only time i really was on election night. it wasn't so much that bill clinton won, ross perot had ran and split the popular vote, bill clinton won with 50%. it was kind of sad. but he was gracious. but when i was standing there taking those photos, i was tearing up. and then the last time we're at camp david, he

was saying good-bye to the military families there and all the people that he learned to love and the people that supported them there. he started crying. it was sad. auschwitz and that was pretty intense, really changed my personal feelings about a lot of things, never really thought much about it. became a huge supporter of israel and, it was never really, never really gave it much thought before. but after you go there and see me fort really changed the rest of my life. >> you mentioned

taking some photos of president bush fishing and doing outdoorsy things. i want to ask about because there are a lot of passages in your book. policy.clean air that was really important to him. david: well, president bush had had this beautiful house in kennebunkport, maine. andrew up there as a child it was a family house. he wound up getting it. water.rew up around the boating, fishing. course out in west texas, hunting. by anyas a sportsman

part of the definition there. and a strong athlete, played , wasall, wealth, tennis very active sports wise. actually quite the teaser also, which impacted me on my very first trip to kennebunkport. arounded to show me walker's point. -- weked down to the p or walked down to the pier. he says, as a child i used to swim here. he said uni should do that.

i was like, i am dressed, i have probably, the water is 40 degrees. he insisted. he said, i don't have a swimsuit. we do not need swimsuits, we can go back to the house. i have plenty there. so we walk up to the house. we walked back down and he said, on the count of three we will job. he start walking back towards the house. so that was my initiation to 10 above report. that was also our bonding thing. years, i was asked to speak to a hunting and fishing group. and i was like, i don't hunt and i don't fish. they said, tell stories about president bush. so i went back into my files, i

was amazed how many photos i -- and i was amazed how many photos i found of him hunting. every december right after christmas we used to go to be built, texas, and go hunting down there. every chance he got he would go fishing in kennebunkport. we would go fishing for bluefish. summer we were out there and he went four weeks without catching a fish. their banner on top of the page, said, day five, no fish. day six, no fish. that went on.

and one day i'm in the boat with him and i am asleep and holding onto a fishing pool -- fishing pole, and i catch of fish. , he is alld in excited. and as the fish gets closer, what had happened is the fish swim by and gotten hooked on the i didn't catch it. i snagged a fish. .nd he said, well you know that doesn't count, you snagged it. and so, i was like ok. and the next day, he finally catches a fish, after 14 or 15 days of no fish. he is catching the fish and we are looking down on it, it is coming in tail first. he had tangled the fish line around the fish's tail. he is bringing the fish in he's

all excited and he says, call the press over selecting get it picture of the fish. minute, youwait a didn't catch that fish, you snagged it. and he said, look i'm president , of the united states, it's my boat, call the press. so, there we go, we get a picture with the fish. and we were down in, i don't -- i don't know, alabama or georgia. a friend of his, ray scott, was very involved with the pro bass fisherman's tournament. we were at scott's home and they so they wanted to go out on the lake and go fishing. and the media were all there, they were on the shore. it was a good sized lake but not

so big a telephone lens couldn't go all the way across it. so they decided, they made an agreement with the press, if we catch the fish then you guys will go away. so, they said yes. so they go out and they were out there for 5 or ten minutes, and then there's all this excitement. and the president raises up this fish, and the press takes picture of the fish. they put it down and the press leave. the fish was one that ray had caught months before and had mounted. so, they just raised up this mounted fish so the press could take a picture and go away so they could be left alone to do their fishing. i think that photo was in the book. if you look closely at the fish you can see the block

on the bottom left side of the fish. in terms of like day-to-day activities, he always -- he always job gged, loved to play or shoes. he would always get, he had the prime minister of japan, queen elizabeth, she actually never through a horseshoe. that was a lot of fun. davide actually at camp one time with president

gorbachev, they were having some high-level meetings and they took a break. his interpreter decided to go for a walk on the grounds of camp david. i will follow them and see where they go and see what they do. they come across the horseshoe pit. it is gorbachev and his interpreters. they are discussing what it is. i explain that it is a game. you take the horseshoe and throw it. gorbachev throws it in on the first throw he gets eight ringer. so he takes the horseshoe and keeps it. i said, he is stealing president bush's horseshoe. so i ratted on him. i said, gorbachev stole your horseshoe. that night, bush had the other

horseshoe mounted on a plaque offpresented it to the rich -- and presented it to present gorbachev and said a horseshoe is good luck. he said, same thing in the soviet union. a few months later, i was interviewed by the -- the today show to tell the story. when introduced me, they said i was the man who taught gorbachev had to play horseshoes. that was my claim to fame. horseshoes was a lot of fun. tennis was aggressive. he played with a lot of world leaders whenever he had a chance. love to get star athlete to come and play tennis with him. it was really good.

haslus years later, he parkinson's and is bound in a wheelchair. ,t is really sad to see that knowing how active he has been all his life. four or five years ago, when he was still walking, i was at kennebunkport and he was on the front lawn and had his fishing line tangled. he was not fishing, just practicing his technique. the line had gotten tangled. i helped him untangle it. i asked if he wanted to go fishing. , i don't like to go by the rocks anymore. i am afraid i will fall in and no one will ever find me.

heartlike, it breaks my thatar him say stuff like when just a few years before, he was running across the rocks and grew up playing on the rocks. now, he was afraid of falling down and being lost in those had rocks that as a child given him so much pleasure. golf was one of the things that, if it was raining it made for a great day because with the rain there were not other golfers. you could play as fast as you wanted. so we would be out there in our raingear. again hehy are we here loved that.

he played power golf. because he gotn guys like arnold palmer to come out and i was fortunate enough, as a goal for myself, to have a chance to meet arnold palmer, one of the great. had an president bush aspect to him, he was always like, let's see who's name we can trap this time. we went on campaign with kent williams, in boston, and thousands of people came out. and i was like, here is ted williams, and by the way, vice president bush. and the crowds were so thrilled

broughtim and then they ted williams and joe dimaggio to the white house. that was great fun. i was fortunate to have them sign a baseball for me. it is my prized session. possession.prized it made for a lot of fun. let's see who we can run into the ground today. the press always wanted to job .ith him g in the morning, go golf.and play tennis or those running with him wanted to and youand go to bed, were 30 or 40 years younger than him. it was funny to watch that.

>> one of the things i wanted to what photo or series of photos would you like to be remembered for and why? the photo i took of george and barbara bush in bed with the grandchildren seems to have taken on a life of its own. whenever i go around and do , 20 somethings years later, that is the photo that people recognize. i approach things differently than some of the other photographers. in other people's work, you can tell there is a photojournalist doing that. with me, as a government photographer doing documentary

see primarily, i think you a different style. . would document what was there komodo took some great photos of resident johnson in real -- president johnson in real agony over the vietnam war. president bush was never one to agonize over things like that. lowliest job in the world, he never took that. it was what can i do as president to solve this? think the types of photos are really different.

the difference i see in the photography between myself and, say, eric draper and pete souza, president obama's photographer, both eric and pete or shooting digital photos. photography, we have a much wider range of latitude. shoot much more available light work. that, getble to do much more creative in your angles and shooting through things. when i was shooting, i was shooting film. more times than not, you had to use flash. something get behind because i would burn up because i was using flash. in digital photography come you can do things like that more creatively.

i wish i had had that opportunity. invented thet thek photo cd probably in 1989, 1980. because i was the president's photographer, they invited me to rochester and introduce that technology. i was very excited about it. was planning on heading in that direction. we lost the relelection -- the reelection. fortunately, for me, i went on to do photography for disney. the priary job was advertising photography,

shooting in film, scanning and digitially -- digitally manipulated. so i was there at disney. for me, personally, i never looked back. wholend up creating a digital department at disney. lot of fun to be at the roots of that. disney partnered with pixar. story."d "toy the wholetalk around digitial imaging thing.

moneye spending a lot of with scanning and doing the work for us. come out.had just it was early on. there was enough in being blessed to be with the walt disney company. the world into new ideas. i was able to move that idea forward ver. withreat folks who worked me. i was the idea guy. the folks who worked with me embraced that. first,e reluctantly at

but they're not looking back now. >> because your collection is collection here at the center, why did you decide to place your collection at the center? >> i worked at the federal government as a photographer 30 years. the job is documenting what's going on with different programs. at the end of the day, every thing ends up at the archives. taken look at the photos

at the depression and they became a part of history, i had long,se a history all a -- what i was documenting was history. 19902, u.s. post office did an african american heritage seires. -- series. they took a photo i had taken a patricia harris and used it as a postage stamp.

the only reason why that happened is the work i did in the 1970's for the u.s. are -- for the u.s. government was in the archives. now i have a photo that is a u.s. postage stamp. really had a sense of history when i worked at the white house. rolls of film. of that. proud i took of a president will be there forever and ever. a small, little part in that.

when i was opposed by the realoe center, it was a honor for me to be recognized. but they were also interested in valdezy david photography, but in david valadez. history.xas family the briscoe center is a wonderful opportunity to share valez, --ut david david valdez. newspaper clips, memorabilia, photography, things like that that i can share. and they will be here forever and ever. i won't.

andthat work will be, those things that are a small part of my life. i'm always fortunate that peole to be a speaker at an experience.re my are not a lot of people in history who have done the job i have. now the briscoe center managing a lot of my personal things and over theve taken years. real honor. coming out ofory

dad working on a farm in south texas. wwii not come along, he would have stayed there and i would have become a farmer myself. emju -- enjoy sharing that. hispanic american, you dont get a lot of opportunities to shine out there. work in ato have a respects the work

forever andbe there ever. don carlton a few years back and realizedon there is value in news photography becoming history. -- him himi'm fortunate that i had an opportun himity to don him him him and become a part of the briscoe center. work, not just mine. me we're the photographers giving people a

history.ack in . for the briscoe center to be a magnifying glass and that, that's a wonderful thing. texas, willingof to house the center here, i hope by name,n asterix for more photos, go to university of texas. some of the programs bput on by the briscoe center. .

we're truly blessed to be texans, to be in texas and to the briscoe center here at the university of texas manage the work. americane watching history tv. 48 hours on c-span3. forow us on twitter information on our schedule and to keep up with the latest history news. afterwords, craig shirley on the life and political career of new gingrich with his book "citizen newt. use interviewed by tom davis. this was before cable television, before cnn, before msnbc, pockets of cable here and there, but mostly reruns of i

love lucy and andy griffith, things like that. there's no talk radio to speak up. just the big media. and c-span. quickly realizes the potency of getting special orders every afternoon, giving a five-minute speech, because of it being carried over cable to 100,000 homes around the country. former congressman did army used to rip him about it. and he would say, gingrich would give ack, would you go speech to 100,000 people. of course. that's what you're doing with c-span with special orders every afternoon. he quickly became a cult political leader and is getting 700 letters a week from people around the country, to this backbench, you know, junior

member from georgia who is a member of a minority party. he is only achieving a national following. afterwords on book tv. next, the grandchildren of president franklin d. roosevelt's new deal cabinet members and advisors talked about the actions in the 1930's and early 1940's to bring the country back -- back from the great depression. they were joined by president roosevelt's grandson, james roosevelt junior. >> this was one of the ideas that has been vital. how do we make the